Gov't: Design Flaw in Bridge Collapse

[Ghost in the Machine]

Gov't: Design Flaw in Bridge Collapse
Published: 1/15/08, 12:05 PM EDT
By FREDERIC J. FROMMER

WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal investigators have identified a design flaw as the cause of last year's Interstate 35W Minneapolis bridge collapse that killed 13 people, a congressional official said Tuesday.

The official, who was briefed by the National Transportation Safety Board, said that investigators found a design flaw in the bridge's gusset plates, which are the steel plates that tie steel beams together. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity so as not to pre-empt an update being provided later Tuesday by the NTSB chairman, Mark V. Rosenker.

The findings are consistent with what the NTSB said about a week after the Aug. 1 collapse, in which the bridge plunged into the Mississippi River. At the time, the NTSB said it had found issues with the collapsed bridge's gusset plates, but expected a full investigation to take more than a year.

At the time, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters advised states to consider the additional stress placed on bridges during construction projects. An 18-person crew was working on the bridge when it collapsed.

Nearly three months later, she told a gathering in Washington of a "working theory" of a poorly designed gusset plate and a heavy load of construction materials.

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